How to take photos in RAW format with the mobile camera

The quality with which we take a screenshot with the mobile camera is always important, but the truth is that not everyone knows each of the functions that are among the characteristics of their terminal. For example, more than one will not know how to take photos in RAW. This type of photography is not available on all mobiles, but it is easy to find it on mid-range and high-end smartphones. Therefore, we will tell you how you can take advantage of this type of format.

Finding mobiles compatible with this format was not so easy a while ago, but it has been spreading among more smartphones. But, if you do not know what it will do for you, don’t worry, because we will tell you exactly if it is worth taking photos with the mobile camera with this format. And, best of all, if your smartphone does not have this functionality, we will tell you about some of the different apps that exist so that you can take RAW photos with your mobile.

take photos in RAW format with the mobile camera

What is RAW?

For photography lovers, it is clear that this format will be ideal if you want to impress your friends, family or partner. With RAW you will be able to capture images at a quality in which you will take advantage of all the advantages of computational photography, that is, with nuances.

Móviles para hacer fotos RAW

Nowadays, all digital cameras can shoot in RAW format. However, not all terminals today support this. For you to understand it better, these types of images are photos that are captured with the complete information that the terminal’s camera manages to capture, that is, without any processing. So we managed to store captures as we have managed to take them with the main sensor of the terminal. And, the most important thing, is that we can modify practically all its parameters : lighting, saturation, exposure, among many others. And when editing the images, you will achieve it without losing quality, something that will not happen in captures in jpg format.

The disadvantage of this format is that the size of the RAW images is much larger. But, we will gain a lot of quality in the photographs. Therefore, if we have a terminal with enough internal storage, this will not be a problem.

How to active

This will depend on the phone we have and its customization layer, in addition to the Android version or the operating system that your mobile has. We will start with Apple smartphones, since there are not many models that have this type of format. Basically, because the apple company started including RAW on the iPhone from the iPhone 12, and it is only available on the Pro models.

Formato ProRAW Apple

If you have one of these terminals, you can activate this setting by entering the Camera app > tap on the Photo section and tap on RAW. You can even use it on the front. Although, Apple’s ProRAW mode is not compatible with portrait mode. To configure it you must go to Settings and access the configuration of this application.

In the case of Android mobiles, things change much more, since, basically, each customization layer is a world. But, first of all, we will make sure that our phone is compatible with this format. The easiest thing will be for you to take a look at our files, where you will find each of the specifications of the phone you have.

However, in most cases we can find it within the Camera app> by tapping on the gear icon. Although, if it is not in the Photos settings, we will have to look at the options that come directly to us on the main screen of the application. In some layers we will find three horizontal bars or a More option. Therefore, you must enter it and activate the RAW of the mobile camera .

Activar RAW en Android

You do not have it? use an app

Not all Android or iPhone terminals can enjoy this technology or image format in their cameras. But, nothing happens, since for that we bring you different apps with which you can enjoy this type of photography on your smartphones without any problem. Although, the options for iOS are less, although what there is, will be very useful as you will see later.

camara raw moviles samsung

Adobe Lightroom

This Adobe option will not only help us edit the photos we take with the phone, but also allows us to take images in RAW format with the mobile camera. This app is completely free, both on Google Play and the App Store, but the ‘Pro’ version has extra functions, which are paid for.

Once inside, we will find among its free functions an option called advanced capture mode with which to take pictures in RAW with the smartphone. And when you finish making them, you can also edit them yourself at will from this same application. In this way, you will have a two-for-one app: photo editing and to take them in this format.

open-camera

The second application that you can try is Open Camera , another of the best camera apps that exist for Android phones, and best of all, it ‘s free . Not only does it give us the possibility of taking RAW photos with the mobile camera, but it also offers us different configuration options. If you want to do the test yourself, we encourage you to download it on Google Play:

FV-5 Lite Camera

Another application for Android that allows you to take photos in RAW format with your mobile is Camera FV-5 Lite, as if we had a real professional camera. You just have to enter the app Settings> Photo encoding> Enable RAW capture. The negative side is that it is only available on Google Play:

In addition to this tool, this application allows us to control exposure and white balance , apply filters in real time, enjoy manual focus, record videos in HD and slow motion. And not only this, but it gives us the possibility to set the video frame rate and bit rate, among other functions.